Media Mentions

HidroAysén Blasts Their Way Past Corporate Responsibility

Río Ibañez Day of Action participant
Río Ibañez International Day of Action Against Dams Event I am back in the Berkeley office of International Rivers after an exceptionally quick trip to Chile, including a whirlwind tour down to the Aysén Region of Patagonia. This trip was a productive and intense round of fact finding, meetings with partners, and media outreach--not to mention a chance to participate in a wonderful International Day of Action event. Amongst all the things I have brought home with me, including vivid memories of the blue vivid force of the Baker and some great conversations with local people, what I

Media Coverage of WWF5

AFP Turkey deports two activists over water demo March 18, 2009 MSNBC World Bank appeals for water investment By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA updated 7:25 a.m. PT, Tues., March. 17, 2009 Noticias.Terra.Com Foro Mundial del Agua: militante ecologista alemana expulsada de 18/3/2009 - 15:29(GMT) AlJazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/2009318131034585585.html Univision Foro Mundial del Agua: militante ecologista alemana expulsada de 18 de Marzo de 2009, 10:49am ET Hurriyet Two water activists detained, deported March 18, 2009 Hurriyet Water cheapest way

On the Wrong Side of the Global Water Divide

Monday, March 16, 2009
Published in the Turkish Daily News Istanbul is currently hosting thousands of international water bureaucrats, which are convening for the 5th World Water Forum. Their official motto, "Bridging the Divides for Water", poses a daunting challenge. Almost one billion people still lack access to adequate and safe water supply. Yet financial flows to the developing world are rapidly drying up, even for the water sector. In their final declaration, the world's water ministers will call for "a significant increase" in investment flows for water infrastructure. Yet the

Giant Dam May Have Triggered Sichuan Quake

Friday, February 6, 2009
Originally published in The Wall Street Journal BEIJING - Chinese and U.S. scientists are examining the possibility that a giant dam may have triggered the earthquake that killed some 80,000 people when it struck Sichuan province nine months ago, raising questions about ambitious dam-building projects across China's earthquake-prone western regions. Pressure from the Zipingpu Dam, upriver from the town of Dujiangyan in Sichuan, may have helped trigger China's devastating earthquake in May 2008. Scientists are looking into the likelihood that the weight of hundreds of millions of tons of water

China Dams Reveal Flaws in Climate-Change Weapon

Sunday, January 25, 2009
Originally published in multiple news outlets; reporting by the Associated Press XIAOXI, China - The hydroelectric dam, a low wall of concrete slicing across an old farming valley, is supposed to help a power company in distant Germany contribute to saving the climate - while putting lucrative "carbon credits" into the pockets of Chinese developers. But in the end the new Xiaoxi dam may do nothing to lower global-warming emissions as advertised. And many of the 7,500 people displaced by the project still seethe over losing their homes and farmland. "Nobody asked if we wanted to move," said a

Cambodia: Opting For The Big Dam

Thursday, January 1, 2009
Published by Inter Press Services PHNOM PENH, Jan 1 (IPS) - It has been a long held plan of Cambodia's government -- a hydropower dam on the mainstream of the Mekong River in the central part of the country.But political and financial considerations coupled with considerable environmental and social consequences have combined to prevent the project from going ahead.Until, it appears, now.In a move that will fuel concerns about hydropower development on the mainstream of the Mekong, Phnom Penh is moving ahead with a dam that would block the entire width of the river at Sambor, Kratie province,

NGO to Target HidroAysen Financing - Chile

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Business News AmericasThe US-based NGO International Rivers plans to take its campaign against Chile's US$3.2bn, 2.75GW HidroAysen hydro project to the world of international financing, International Rivers Patagonia campaign coordinator Aaron Sanger told BNamericas.HidroAysen, owned by Spain's Endesa and Chilean generator Colbun, submitted the EIS for the project in August.International Rivers already has been targeting shareholders in Endesa and Colbun, including Italy's Enel and Chile's Matte Group. The NGO also has been urging US buyers to reduce imports of forestry products produced in Ch

China Plans String of Dams in South Tibet

Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Published in The Guardian • Hydropower seen as way to boost local economy • Environment groups fear wider impact downstream China is planning to build a string of new dams in southern Tibet to boost its electricity supply, the region's chief of water resources told the Guardian. Hundreds of millions of people across Asia depend on rivers that originate in Tibet, and previous hydroelectric proposals have proved controversial because of their impact on the environment, local people and communities downstream. But officials in Lhasa argue the dams are the least damaging way

Paying Southeast Asia's Power Bill

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Published by Inter Press Services VIENTIANE, Sep 25 (IPS) - There is an uneasy calm that swirls through this South-east Asian capital, which sits on the banks of the Mekong River. White sandbags piled waist-high over a 13 km stretch along the river offer the reason why -- floods. For now, the swollen waters of this region's largest river laps at the embankments, just below the sandbags, which were hurriedly placed in August to protect the main city of Laos from the rising Mekong. Some of the city's outlying areas were not so fortunate, as the waters surged inland, in one of the worst floods wi

Big Dams Are Not the Answer to World's Energy Needs

Monday, July 14, 2008
Published in The Sacramento Bee How to generate electricity without selling out the climate is one of the pressing issues facing humanity today. But don't worry; the international hydropower industry says it has the situation covered. It's using the threat of global warming as a pretext for promoting a new generation of big dams in developing countries. But investment in hydropower dams will not only increase our vulnerability to climate change, it will also sell out some of the last remaining wild places on Earth, and the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of people.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Media Mentions